Being At The End Don't Mean That It's Over
by Smudge93
Summary: Tag to 5.22 If they were mine, this is how it would have ended. Spoilery summary in the story notes. Spoilers: 5.22 Disclaimer: Not mine, except for the few minutes it takes to read this


God where do I begin!

An explanation of how Sam ended up on the street and a little extra scene for the end of the episode.

Little OT mention here - When I wrote the little short 'someday girl' I didn't think someday would quite so soon!

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Being At The End Don't Mean That It's Over.

Castiel kneels on the battlefield that never was and pulls the rings that he palmed from Dean's pocket, smiling because it was the man himself that had taught him that trick. He gently lays them down on the grass and sighs deeply. This action maybe foolish but it is something that he has to do. Dean deserves his 'grand prize' as he so nicely put it. He fought hard and he fought well, only his intervention at the end had saved humanity. Well Dean and somehow that of the car. They had combined into the force that had help his brother to free himself from Lucifer's clutches long enough to be able to throw the devil back in the box.

So, if God won't see to it then he will because Dean and he are brothers, not of blood, but in blood; both their hands bathed in it, each others and that of both foes and family.

With that he reaches down and drags the younger Winchester free, hand branding the same mark on his shoulder as he had his brother's. Sam lies still for a moment, eyes tight shut, mind believing this a trick, another torture.

"Sam," Castiel whispers and the eyes open, wide at first, scared and hunted until it sinks in that this is real; that he is out.

"Dean?" It's Sam's first word.

"He's safe. Your brother kept his promise even though it pains him deeply to have done so."

"I want to see," Sam asks and Castiel touches his head and the graveyard fades out to a quiet, suburban street, the light flickering out at his arrival.

Dean is there, lost in his thoughts and his sadness as he sits at Lisa's table. Sam knows how that feels. To mourning the loss of a brother. He knows too, that however good Dean's intentions are, he'll break that promise, just as he himself did, and go after the ones that took his brother from him. Hunt for a way to bring him back. It's that or give up and die. Sam's been there, ahead of his brother on that particular road.

It is this knowledge and this knowledge only that has Sam crossing the street and approaching the door. He stops in the porch, hand raised but not knocking, wanting to do what he always does and just walk away. To leave his brother be. This time though he can't. He can't because Dean has to know that Sam is not suffering in Hell because he couldn't stop it.

Knuckles wrap wood and then Lisa appears, questioning look in her eyes until she realises who he is, remembers him from their brief meeting before.

He hears the chair fall over as she lets Dean know who's come a knocking and then his brother is there, almost vibrating in the stillness that settles over them. The hunter in Dean has him pull Lisa back and behind him, a pointless action if Sam wasn't what he seems but so Dean that it makes Sam smile. Always in the firing line, that was his brother. It hits him then, just what a huge thing it was for his brother to let Sam walk into Lucifer's arms and stand idly by. How much it much have cost him.

Dean tenses as Sam slips his shirt and jacket off his arm and raises the sleeve of his t-shirt. The mark there is livid in the porch light, a beacon that shines right into Dean's eyes and heart. The angel's name forms on his lips and Sam nods.

He's moving then, hand clutching at his brother's neck, pulling him in, tears damping Sam's skin as Dean weeps openly against him. Sam returns the embrace and then pulls his brother back, smiles sadly at him.

They stand there, a silent communication between them, one pleading, the other knowing that he can't do what his brother wants. Not now, not anymore.

Waving off Lisa's invite into her home and perhaps her life, he steps back into the dark, still feeling like it's where he belongs but knowing that Dean no longer does. Something in his brother is broken and even an angel's touch cannot repair it. Dean needs to rest. His journey, for this moment, over.

Sam stares at them and then remembers, hopes that it's still in his pocket after all they've been through. Fingers wrap round the black cord and pull it free; the small amulet that meant so much to both of them at one point.

Dean's eyes fill again as he sees it, stands still as Sam puts it round his neck and pats it to his chest. It's Sam's way of saying Dean will always be his brother and he hopes that Dean gets it. The look in his brother's eyes as they met his tells him that he does.

Sam makes it to the end of the path before Dean's hand stays his progress, turning him. There is a small glint of metal in Dean's grip as he pulls Sam's own hand out and presses the car keys into the flesh of his palm.

Looking over at the car in the driveway Sam realised what his brother has just done. Sam had gifted him with a home of his own and now Dean was doing the same.

Sure, maybe it didn't have a roof and four walls but he would never, in fact, be homeless.

Dean watches as his brother backs the car out of the driveway and out onto the road and he smiles through the tears because although they maybe on different roads for now, there's one thing that Dean knows better than anyone.

Life, has a lot of crossroads.

**Chapter End Notes:**

I stole the homeless line almost straight from Chuck's/God's(?) cold little fingers. Let him sue me, because it is a great line!

(If Chuck is God, why didn't Dean's amulet glow? Sorry but it is EATING at me!)

Thanks for reading. Is it September yet?

Mary xx


End file.
